Miami Fog
by SpeedlesChic
Summary: 1796 - Blake and his crew were ambushed as they came to Miami's South Beach to build a place for themselves to live. Helping the robbers was a fog bank. Now 210 years later Blake has come back for what was righfully his, and to seek revenge on Miami.
1. Legend of The Fog

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the the story behind The Fog nor am I associated with it. This a crossover between CSI: Miami and the move The Fog (1980). All rights go to John Carpenter and everyone else associate with this amazing film. I just am taking the story and fitting it into a CSI Miami scene. Also I do not know when South Beach was formed the dates are purely fictional for this story. I also do not own nor am associated with CSI Miami.

* * *

Something moves with in the night

That is not good and is not right

- The Book of Counted Sorrows, Dean Koontz

**The Pittsburg Post-Gazette**

Where eerie figures caper

To some midnight music

That only they can her

- The Book of Counted Sorrow, Dean Koontz

The soft shush of surf,

Conspiratorial Fog

Cover his return

- The Book of Counted Sorrows, Dean Koontz

***South Beach, Miami - October 16, 2006 – 12:00a.m.***

Waves from the Atlantic Ocean crashed against Miami's South Beach. The waves were soft and the water was eerily calm. Laughter from the Boy Scout group, having their annual campout on the beach, and the waves from the ocean water were the only sounds emitting into the atmosphere. "Who's ready for some scary stories?" Mark Durst, the Boy Scouts' leader shouted.

"ME!" all the young boys shouted back.

"Alright, gather around the campfire and prepare to be scared." Mark took a seat in his chair in front of the campfire; the smoke getting thick.

It took the scouts just a few minutes to get ready for the telling of scary stories. A few of the boy's parents were there – their fathers – to chaperone the trip. Once everyone was settled in their chairs Mark grabbed a flashlight to add to the affect.

In the background, an unusual fog covered the water on this cool Miami night; Mark began his scary story. "It was on the night of October 17, 210 years ago that a wealthy leper named Blake bought a boat named the Elizabeth Dane-" Mark was interrupted by a boy named Tyler Fishborne.

"Is this story true, Mr. Durst?" Tyler asked intrigued. Marked turned on his flashlight and rested his chin on it.

He said in the best eerie voice he had, "Yes Tyler, this story is in fact true."

"How?" a boy name Jonathan Tucker asked.

"They have documents dating back to the year 1796… Now let's get back to the story," Mark said his voice still eerie sounding. "A wealthy leper named Blake moved himself and his friends to Miami. He wanted to build a place where they could live in comfort. You see a leper is someone with the disease called Leprosy that is caused by a bacterial infection. Back then there was no cure for it… We shall continue on now. When they had arrived in South Beach, Miami on a cool night like this," Mark stated as he looked out into the fog.

"Blake and his crew had been misguided by a campfire on shore… Just like this one." He pointed to their campfire; the boys' eyes went wide. "The vessel then was steered of course, and Blake and his crew smashed into the rocks below. Then as he pondered what they would do next seven conspirators lit a fire to sink the Elizabeth Dane to rob Blake of his gold. In the end all people were killed on board. They were burned alive… The legend is Blake and his crew come back every seventy years on the exact same date they came to their terrible deaths in search of what was rightfully theirs, and to seek revenge on the citizens of Miami. Tomorrow's date is seventy years since the last claimed sighting."

Mark ended the story with his eerie voice. Silence was all that came from the boy scouts. He decided to add more, "Now every time you see the fog and you notice a glow that means he's back, and has come to claim what he had lost two hundred and ten years ago." He paused as he looked back out into the fog. It seemed to have a slight glow to it.. The looks on the boys and fathers faces exuded fear as they too watched the fog as it stood idle out in the ocean.


	2. Hello Who's There?

A few miles up in town, the local gas station/grocery store had finally closed up its shop. Bob Franklyn, the owner said his goodbyes to the last customer, a regular named Tommy Goodman, before turning on the radio. This was his nightly ritual. Saying goodbye to Tommy and sweeping up the floors while listened to the voice of the night, Stevie Wayne. He loved the smoothness in her voice and everyone he talked to did too.

After a long hard day at work the citizens of Miami could turn on their radios and her Stevie Wayne's soothing voice; they were instantly relaxed.

Bob switched on the radio; the voice of the night came on. "Stevie Wayne here, and you're listening to Late Night Radio on KAB. Hope you're day was a good as mine. Here's a little soft Jazz to kick things off," Stevie Wayne said in her smooth and sultry voice. Bob smiled to himself as he went to grab his broom from the janitor's closet.

Just as he began sweeping the dirty floors he heard a noise in the front of the store. "I wonder what that was. I know there is no one in here," Bob thought to himself. He pushed it to the back of his mind and continued with sweeping the floors and listening to the radio.

The song had finished and Wayne's voice was back on. "How was that song Miami? Now let's go over to Dan O'Brian and see what the weather is up to at 12:45a.m. Dan what do you have for us?"

A manly voice came over the radio. "Well, Stevie the temperature is around 65 degrees, winds are calm blowing at a speed of 5mph, and it looks like we have a fog bank hovering out over the water," Dan O'Brian said from his little weather station near Bob's shop.

"Thank you Dan… If you just missed that the temperature is a cool 65 degrees, winds are at 5mph, and a fog bank is out over the water," Stevie said repeating what her weatherman had relayed to her. "For all of you citizens of Miami, tomorrow is South Beach's 210th birthday. Celebrations will be held tonight on Miami's South Beach," she added telling the listeners of South Beach's birthday.

Bob continued on his nightly routine, but quickly stopped as he, once again heard some noises coming from inside the store. This time he couldn't place them so he decided to investigate. "Hello… is anyone here?" he called out. No answer came. "Hello?" he called again. Still nothing. He feared that it was some robber trying to force his way into the store unnoticed. Bob decided to grab his 12 gauge shotgun from under the cash register.

Reaching the desk, he pulled shotgun out, and then checked to make sure it's loaded; there was a full magazine. Bob waited to see if he could pin-point the noise, but there was nothing but silence. "Show yourself! Don't be a coward!"

The rustling came back, and this time it came from the back of the store. Bob crept slowing toward the back near the break room. The air in the store felt colder than normal.

Soon after the store started to feel cooler than normal, a light fog began to seep through the cracks of the front door. Bob didn't know what was coming.

The fog started to thicken as it moved swiftly through the store. It was almost like someone had been controlling the fog, but there was no one in sight. Twenty feet separated the fog from Bob… now fifteen… ten feet.

Feeling uneasy Bob turned around and came face to face with it. His eyes went wide and he tried to scream; only little sounds of 'help me' came from him. The Fog consumed him and then silence. It was only a matter of seconds before The Fog vanished out the way it came. Bob lay on the floor dead.


	3. Fishy Evidence

** *6:00a.m.***

The scene was like any other scene for the Lieutenant of the Miami-Dade Police Department and his CSIs. Horatio Caine looked around him. The bright yellow crime scene tape blocked off the entire gas station. Groups of ten to fifteen people were scattered around looking to see what was going on, and to capture any video to post on YouTube and their Facebook pages.

Horatio surveyed the area one last time before heading into the store where his Medical Examiner, Alexx Woods and Homicide Detective, Frank tripp were waiting for him. "Alexx what can you tell me?" Horatio asked taking off his trademark sunglasses.

"Well, the cause of death was his head was cut off," Alexx said pointing to the severed head laying next to the dead man's body. "There's some kind of gooey substance and water around the body. Also there's some sort of tape or gauze around his feet. I'll no more after the post," she added.

"Thank you, Alexx. Frank do we have an ID yet?" Horatio asked turning to the detective.

"Yeah, Bob Franklyn, 59, owns the place. A man named Jack Turner over there found him when he came to open the store like he does every morning at 5:30." Frank Tripp stated.

"Frank, keep me posted… Alexx do we have a time of death?"

"I would say between 12:30 and 1:00 o'clock this morning… about five and a half to six hours Horatio."

"Thank you," Horatio said before putting on his sunglasses.

He headed out as he saw his team of CSI's arrive: Timothy 'Speed' Speedle, Calleigh Duquesne, Eric Delko, Ryan Wolfe, and his daughter and wife of Tim Speedle, Lauren Caine-Speedle. "Welcome back everyone," Horatio said with a grin on his face and his fire red hair blazing in the Miami sun; they had all surprisingly been on vacation. Horatio was happy to get them back. The swing shift was well… not his team.

"Thanks," they all said in unison.

"It's good to be back H," Speed added.

"It's good to have all of you back too." Horatio smiled at his son-in-law. "There's nothing like having your team back with you."

"Horatio, what do we have?" Lauren asked calling her father by his first name. They both decided to keep it professional. She would only call him dad when they were in the privacy of his office or at home. The same held true for Speed and Lauren. In fact, if you saw them at work and didn't know them, you more than likely wouldn't have guessed they were married. Their work life was professional and their personal life was kept in the home. Although it was hard sometimes for the three of them, especially Lauren and Speed, but it was for the best.

"Bob Franklyn, age 59, owns the place, and cause of death… his head was severed."

"There's nothing like a severed head in the morning," Calleigh said cheerfully.

"Calleigh, you're way too cheerful at six in the morning," Speed said as he started heading into the store; Lauren followed him.

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Eric said flashing his Delko grin.

"Now Eric be nice," Calleigh added with a small smile.

Horatio looked at Eric and said, "He's got his reasons Eric. Speed and Lauren had a rough night with Tyler."

"Is he alright? Is everything okay?" Calleigh asked with worry.

"Tyler's not feeling very well. That's all I know." Tyler was Lauren and Speed's two year old son; the two have been married for four years. "Come on let's start processing the scene."

"Sorry H… it was a joke. I had no idea…" Eric started to say, but Horatio cut him off and the four headed into the store.

Inside Lauren and Speed had started taking photos. "Speed, it didn't rain last night did it?" Lauren asked crouching down to get a couple close ups of the water.

Speed sighed, "Uh… no I don't think so. Nothing was wet this morning. Not that it would be with this hot ass weather we have in Miami." Speed snapped a photo, of the same gauze like wrap, Alexx found on the victim.

"I wonder where all this water came from though. I mean the ocean is like three miles away…well, it could be something else other than water, but it smells like the ocean in here," Lauren replied sniffing the air. Something was odd and she couldn't figure it out.

Speed spotted something green on the white vinyl flooring about ten feet to his right. Intrigued he walked over to it. He took a few shots of the green object. Picking it up, he noticed its leafy appearance. "Well we have part of the ocean in here. I think I just found seaweed," Speed said holding up the plant for Lauren to see just as Horatio, Eric, Calleigh, and Ryan entered the building.

Chuckling Lauren said, "Now all we need are the fish." Speed smiled back at his wife. She could always make him smile.

Speed was about to say something when Horatio spoke, "Speed, Lauren, what did you find so far?"

"Well as you can see it's like a mini pond in here. I'm sure you saw that when Alexx was here, which is odd because I don't recall it raining at all last night. There's some clear gooey substance on the floor where the body was found. Not sure if Alexx found any one the body. I collected a sample to be tested when I get back to the lab," Lauren said stating her findings.

"Okay… Speed anything interesting."

"I found a gauze like wrap on the shelf next to where the Bob Franklyn was found. I bagged it for evidence, and I also found this… some sort of plant material. Looks like seaweed. Other than that, nothing," Speed explained

"Okay keep me posted. Anything unusual… bag it. I'm going to go get some background info on Bob Franklyn," Horatio said slipping on his sunglasses. The Lieutenant walked out of the crime scene and into the Miami sun.

* * *

Across town, on a deserted road, a woman was walking along the side. Palm Trees shaded her from the intense heat of the early rising sun. She didn't have much, just a small bag.

Several feet behind her was a red Ford pickup truck. She heard it and stuck out her hand, thumb up like a hitchhiker. The man in the automobile passed her by a few feet before putting on his breaks. He decided to pick her up.

When she reached his truck the man rolled down the passenger side window. "Now what's a pretty girl a pretty lady like you doing out here?" the man asked.

"Hitchhiking to somewhere that I don't know yet," the young woman said with a flirty grin.

"You want a ride?" She nodded yes. He unlocked the passenger side door and she got in. "The name is Nick Castle, yours is…"

"Elizabeth… Elizabeth Solley, but you can call me Liz if you want."

"Nice to meet you Liz," Nick said with a crooked grin.

"Same to you. You mind if I hang around?"

"Not at all." The two ride in silence for a few minutes.

Breaking the quietness Elizabeth said, "Listen, I've never really hitchhiked before I just really want to be careful. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Nick responds.  
"Are you weird?"

"Yes, I am. Yes I am weird."

"You are weird. Thank god you are weird. The last one was so normal it was disgusting," Elizabeth said as she began to laugh hysterically; Nick followed suit.

"So, you hungry?" He asked once the laughter has subsided.

"Yes, I'm starving!" she exclaimed. Nick smiled as he kept his eyes on the road.

"I know the perfect place in town. Amazing food." Nick was beginning to like this girl named Elizabeth.

* * *

Two hours later, the heat from the sun made the store feel like 100 plus degrees. "I think I just lost 10 pounds from sweating," Lauren said wiping the perspiration off her forehead. Everyone laughed a little except Speed. "Guys I think I'm going to go sit in the Hummer for a little bit. I feel like I'm going to puke and my head is spinning." She set down her camera and took off her gloves before walking over to the hummer. Speed watched her until he saw she was sitting in the department vehicle. He would give her a few minutes before he went out to check on her; Speed was worried a little.

"Two hours at this crime scene and there is nothing to suggest what the murder weapon might be," Ryan said. He too had sweat dripping down his face and body. All the CSIs' shirts were pretty well soaked in sweat.

"I think it's safe to say we can take this evidence back to the lab and process it," Eric said making some last minute notes and taking a couple last minute pictures.

"Yeah, the heat is affecting us. Let's take the evidence we collected back to the lab, process it and if we need to come back then we'll have a fresh mind," Calleigh added. The four CSIs collected the boxes and carried them out to the hummer.

After Speed put the evidence box he had in the back of the hummer he walked to the driver's side door. Opening it he felt the cold blast of air from the A/C that Lauren had cracked up to full blast.

Feeling the hot air, Lauren opened her eyes and saw her husband staring back at her with worried eyes. "Hey, you get all the evidence?" Lauren asked sitting up a little.

"Yeah, but we decided to call it quits for now. You okay?" Speed asked squinting to shield his eyes from the sun. Lauren reached for his sunglasses in the cup holder and handed them to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got a little light headed from the heat. I guess I should have worn something other than black pants and a black shirt," Lauren said.

"You sure you're okay?" Speed wanted to make sure.

"Yeah Speed, I'm fine I just needed to get out of the heat. I'm feeling better already." Speed helped Lauren out of the driver's seat, and into the back seat where she could lie down until they arrived back at the lab.

Once the doors were all shut he turned his body so he could see his wife and said, "I love you, babe." Speed saw a smile creep onto Lauren's pretty face.

"I love you too. Timmy," Lauren responded. Speed turned back around and followed Eric, Calleigh, and Ryan out of the parking lot.


	4. The Seagrass

At the lab, the logging in of evidence began. It wasn't like they had three full boxes, but the constant use of writing and holding a pen after a period of time was painful. Calleigh and Ryan got the lucky job of that task. Eric was off in prints, and Speed and Lauren were headed off to see their favorite Medical Examiner.

Speed pushed open the doors to the morgue, but before entering he held the door open for, Lauren. "Alexx you have anything good for us?" Speed asked walking up to the autopsy table.

"I was wondering when someone was going to come down and see me," Alexx said smiling. "I thought you forgot about me."

"Alexx, we could never forget about you," Lauren chimed in with a grin on her face.

With the smile still present on her face Alexx began to explain her findings. "Cause of death isn't as obvious as it seems."

"What?" both Lauren and Speed said at the same time.

"Bob Franklyn drowned. He had water in his lungs. Poor baby got his head cut off post-mortem." Alexx picked up the little container full of water; she handed it to Lauren who had slipped on some latex gloves. "I also found the same gauze like wrap in his mouth." Alexx grabbed some tweezers, and walked over to the head of Mr. Franklyn and opened his mouth, Lauren and Speed followed. Alexx reached down and pulled out about a five inch long piece of fabric along with some plant material.

"This is too weird," Lauren said half laughing. "The man was drowned, but he was nowhere near the ocean. We found a trail of water in the store. He's got some kind of seaweed in his mouth and either gauze or some sort of tape. To top it off his head was severed."

Just then Horatio walked in. "Findings… ladies and gentleman?" he asked.

"One strange case H," Speed said sighing as he leaned forward bracing himself on the autopsy table.

Lauren debated on whether or not to call her father, dad. It was just Alexx and Speed, but before she could say anything, Alexx started to explain her findings again. "We have a new cause of death Horatio… Bob Franklyn drowned. I found water in his lungs. His head was cut off post-mortem." Horatio's face was priceless.

"He drowned… but Alexx he was nowhere near water apart from what was found at the scene. That's certainly not enough to drown someone."

"I also found some more of that tape type substance and more seaweed," Alexx added.

"Where was that?" Horatio asked still trying to process what his Medical Examiner had just told him.

"In his mouth. I hate to say it Horatio, but Bob looks like he's been underwater for at least a week, but we all know he wasn't. His liver temp put his time of death between five and a half to six hours ago. Maybe someone drowned him in water before placing him in the store, but that ain't my job. That's what you CSIs are for."

"That Alexx… is correct," Horatio said looking at her and smiling. Horatio looked over at Speed and Lauren, and noticed his daughter leaning forward her eyes closed. "You okay Lauren?"

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine. Just a little nauseous that's all. The heat is something today. I think I'm going to go get something to eat in the break room," Lauren said. She waited until the nausea went away before heading out. Alexx went back to work and Horatio and Speed headed to the evidence room.

* * *

Just as Lauren was about to walk into the break room she heard her name being called. Looking up she saw the familiar face of her father's girlfriend, Virginia Harker. "Virginia?"

"Hi honey," Virginia said with a big grin. The feeling of throwing up and the dizziness had disappeared as she jogged over to one of her favorite people; Lauren hugged Virginia tightly.

Normally she would be low key about her coming home, but it had been over a month. She had been up in New York on an old case; she was a part time homicide detective. "I think that's the best welcome home I've had in a while."

Lauren never had a mother figure in her life. All she had was her father raising her since she was born. Horatio never talked about her mother that much other than he loved her once. Lauren knew that subject was sensitive to him, and she never mentioned it again. Virginia was the closet she had to a mother now. In fact she considered her, her mother.

"Did you just get back today?" Lauren asked breaking the embrace.

"Yeah silly, or I would have been at home," Virginia said chuckling.

"True… anyway, how's Detective Taylor and everyone doing?"

"They're doing well, yeah. It was good to see them again, although, I would have liked to have been up there on vacation and not on a case." She paused for a moment and noticed Lauren's pallid face.

"You alright sweetie?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. We had this crime scene out by South Beach this morning, and it got so hot in the store I felt like I was going to puke and my head was spinning. I was just heading into the break room to get some food."

"Well then let's get some food." The two then headed into the break room.

* * *

Around one o'clock in the afternoon, Nick and his new found friend, Elizabeth were out on the docks. One of his boats, the Seagrass, and it's crew had gone missing. While he waited for his friend, Mike Rodgers to get one of his boats in the marina. He and Elizabeth started talking.

"Hey Nick, can I ask you something?" Elizabeth asked once they had gotten into a small speed boat.

"Shoot," Nick said leaning against the boat walls.

"Last night or early this morning did you experience anything…weird?" Elizabeth had been riding with another driver when the man's engine seized up. The man had lifted his hood only to find that the engine had been flooded with water.

Nick thought for a moment. "I think it was almost one in the morning and this fog surrounded my house. Then all of a sudden this knocking came on the front door. I went out and nothing was there. When the clock struck one everything went away." They continued to talk about their experiences until Elizabeth spotted a small boat drifting with the ocean current.

"Nick, look is that it?" Elizabeth said pointing to a small vessel rocking back and forth in the ocean waves.

Mike, sped up to the abandoned boat. It was in fact The Seagrass. Nick and Mike tied up their small speed boat to The Seagrass and dropped the anchor. They climbed over to the other side along with Elizabeth.

"Nick, I don't like this. I have a bad feeling," she said putting her hands in the pockets of her blue jeans. Something didn't feel right to her. The feeling was of something eerie.

"Mike, Liz let's search the boat to see if anyone is on here," Nick said giving direction. Mike gladly agreed, but Elizabeth was hesitant. She didn't want to search by herself.

The boat was small, so it didn't take much to do a quick search. No one was on board or so they thought. "Looks like there's no one here, Nick. Maybe they took out the emergency raft and started drifting in the water," Mike said looking at him.

"No, I don't think so. I think something happened. I just can't put my finger on it. I mean we checked the engine and there was water in there." Nick paused and walked over to the side of the boat to look down in the water.

"Nick the waters could have gotten rough last night. Who knows," Mike said back.

"No, the waters were calm. Is it me or is it colder on this boat than the one we were just in?" Nick started rubbing his hands together to get his blood flowing faster. This was odd to him. The temperature in Miami almost never got this cold.

"Liz, you find anything?" Nick asked walking back into the boat's cabin. Elizabeth was sitting on floor near one of the small bunk beds. "Liz, earth to Liz!" Nick shouted snapping her out of the daze she was in.

"What? Oh, sorry I was just thinking," she said sitting up a little. "Nick can we get out of here it's creepy?" Just as she was about to get up something fell from the top bunk. It slightly grazed her on the head then fell down to the floor with a big thud. Elizabeth screamed; she jumped into Nick's arms.

There on the floor was, Al Williams, one of the missing fishermen. His eyes were wide open with terror and there was blood all over his clothes from what looked like puncture wounds, and finally there was a ten inch long cut on his throat.

* * *

Back on the boat's deck, Mike started to look around again. Nick was right, the temperature had felt like it had dropped at least ten degrees. He made his way up to the top of the boat and walked over to the steering wheel. He felt like he was being watched. He began to search again, for what he didn't know. Mike spotted what looked like a five foot by two foot wooden box; he felt drawn to it. He slowly walked up to the oblong box not having a clue what or if anything was in there.

The space between himself and the box had diminished. Reaching out he grabbed the latch and paused; his hands were shaking. Mike took a few deep breaths then exhaled before opening the box. "Oh… my… god! Fuck… holy shit!" Mike shouted. He had jumped back three feet. In the box was the second missing fisherman, Tommy Wallace. Mike's breath had escaped him.

Nick and Elizabeth came rushing up to see what Mike had found. They found him bent over with his hands resting on his knees trying to catch his breath. "Mike what happened?" Nick asked frantic. He was still trying to get over finding Al's dead body.

"T-Tommy W-Wallace," Mike stuttered.

Nick walked slowly to the box Mike was pointing to. His eyes went wide with shock. Tommy looked similar to Al except he had a large puncture wound in his abdomen. The look of terror was on Tommy's face just like Al's. Mike, Nick, and Elizabeth stood there in shock. What could have happened to these men? Nick was glad that the third man, who was going to go out with these men decided not to. He would have been dead.

"Let's get Lt. Horatio Caine on the phone. It looks like we have two homicides," Nick managed to say calmly.


	5. Deja Vu?

The evidence collected from Bob Franklyn and the crime scene led the team to a dead end. Fingerprints were found, but nothing came up in AFIS, the blood turned out to just be the victims, and trace that was found only left them even more confused. Horatio had been in contact with Mr. Franklyn's wife and the man who would always be the last person to see him; his story checked out. Bob Franklyn's past was no different from any other Average Joe. As of now they were at a dead end.

The team had taken a break and were all sitting in the break room. Lauren had turned on some music and plugged her iPod into the music player. She set her iPod to shuffle and on came a song by Garth Brooks called, I'd Rather Have Nothin'. "I love this song, Eric come dance with me," Lauren said grinning. Eric didn't really want to, but went anyway to amuse her. He twirled her around a few times and danced with her until the song was finished.

Horatio, Calleigh, Alexx, Ryan, and Speed all applauded and had a good laugh. They needed that every once in awhile. "You guys are too funny you know that," Alexx said smiling at her co-workers. "It looks like you're feeling better Lauren."

"Yeah much better. That heat did a number on me. I seriously thought I was going to pass out," Lauren said taking a seat next to her husband. She kept the urge to snuggle with him to herself since they were at work.

Horatio and his team continued to talk about the current case until his cell phone started ringing. "Horatio... Yes… Okay I'll be there." He shut his phone and looked at his CSI's. "Two dead bodies on a boat… Eric and Ryan let's go and Alexx you're not needed our other Medical Examiner is already out there." Ryan and Eric follow their boss out and head to the new crime scene.

* * *

The waves were calm out on the Atlantic Ocean near South Beach, which the new Medical Examiner was thankful for. Philippa Kirkpatrick or Pip as she like to be called, was the newest edition to Horatio's team. Alexx felt she needed the extra help after her fellow Medical Examiner was killed in a car accident from his driving habits. It just so happened that while his CSI's were off last week, Horatio was given another Medical Examiner. She was young and six years out of college. She was from the United Kingdom. Pip moved here to get a better education. She had fallen in love with Miami and decided to make it her home.

Looking up from the first body, she saw Lt. Caine and two of his CSI's making their way up to her. "Dr. Kirkpatrick it's nice to see you again, this is CSI Ryan Wolfe and CSI Eric Delko. Mr. Wolfe, Mr. Delko this is Dr. Kirkpatrick," Horatio said introducing everyone. Seeing Frank he said, "Frank what do we have?"

"This looks all too familiar, Horatio. Look at the first body. Wet, seaweed in his mouth, and looks like he's been under water at least a week," Frank stated. "Nick Castle, Elizabeth Solley, and Mike Rogers are the ones who found the bodies. I started questioning them and Nick said he came out to look for the boat once it didn't come back with these two men in it. He swears he had nothing to do with their deaths."

"Okay Frank, take them in and hold them till I can get back." Frank escorted the three witnesses off the boat. Horatio turned to Dr. Kirkpatrick. "What can you tell me Miss Kirkpatrick?"

"Well other than what your detective just said, the man's name is Al Williams, he's 59 years old, and he's got deep puncture wounds in his stomach and his throat was cut. I'll no more at the post," Pip informed the Lieutenant.

"Okay, Mr. Wolfe, start processing up here. Take me to the second body, ma'am." Pip led Horatio and Eric into the cabin. Pip dove right in searching for an ID of any kind. She reached into his back pocket and found his wallet.

"ID says Tommy Wallace, age 45 lives in Biscayne. His appearance is consistent with Mr. Williams. Eyes wide open, looks like he's been under water for at least a week, can't make out if there's any water or seaweed in his lungs, and there's a gaping hole in his abdomen."

"Alright, Eric you know what to do and keep me posted."

"Will do H," Eric said setting his kit down to open it. He grabbed a pair of latex gloves, his small flashlight, and camera. He took several pictures of Tommy Wallace's dead body before letting the body haulers take him away.

When the body was removed, Eric had more room to move around in the tight cabin area. It felt like the temperature was one hundred plus degrees and rising. He would need another shower. As he continued to search the interior of the boat he kept looking back every once in awhile at Alexx's extra help. Eric thought the new Medical Examiner was cute and he definitely wanted to get to know her some more.

"Hey Delko, you find anything interesting!" Ryan shouted from the boat deck.

"Nothing so far Wolfe! What about you?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing that we all haven't seen before. I mean I have blood droplets but nothing more. No sign of a murder weapon."

Eric surveyed the room before he said, "Yeah something is definitely up. Three murders all with the same MO. I don't know what it is but something doesn't feel right in here. I walked further to the back by the engine and the air felt cool." Ryan sighed and shook his head. This case kept getting weirder by the minute.

* * *

Meanwhile, Calleigh, Speed, and Lauren headed back to the gas station to see if they could find any other evidence. "Well, back to where we started… the store," Calleigh said with a sigh. "I'll take the back room."

"I'll search the aisle," Speed said walking over to the first row.

"I got the front," Lauren said heading up by the cashier's desk.

Calleigh began her search in the stockroom. She set her kit on the floor next to the doorway. She shined her flashlight over the floor, up to the ceiling, and over the semi-empty shelves. Her eye caught something pinned to one of the boxes.

Calleigh grabbed some latex gloves from her kit along with an evidence bag and tweezers. As she got closer she found that it was a scroll with something written on it. "Hey guys, I think I found something!" Calleigh shouted. She examined the scroll and found written words on it. She tried to read it but the ink was too smudged and washed away.

"What'd you find Calleigh," Speed said walking into the back room, Lauren was close behind.

"It's an old scroll with writing on it. It was pinned to this cardboard box with a rusty nail. I tried reading it, but the ink is all smudged and runny," Calleigh said removing the nail and the scroll; she carefully placed it in a clear evidence bag.

"Maybe Q/D can do something with it… there's nothing up front. I checked the desk area again and every nook and cranny you could think of. There's nothing," Lauren stated.

"Yeah same here in the aisles, except more puddles of water," Speed said sighing. "I collected some just in case there was anything different, but I doubt it."

All of a sudden, Lauren's cell rang. The display showed 'Barbara'. Barbara was Speed's mother and Tyler's baby sitter on Mondays. "Hey Barbara, what's up," Lauren answered.

"When can you and Timothy get off of work? Tyler isn't feeling well and he wants his mom and dad and not Nana Speedle," Barbara said sounding tired. Lauren rubbed her forehead in frustration. She had no idea when she and Speed would be able to get off. This case was going nowhere.

"I really don't know… we have lunch break soon I can ask my dad if we can have an extended break, but that maybe all I can do."

"Okay, any amount of time is fine he just wants to see you two," Barbara said sounding relieved. The two said their goodbyes and hung up.

Speed looked at his wife with a little worry. "Is everything okay with Ty?"

"He's still not feeling good, and your mom is having a hard time with him. He's a two year old who isn't feeling good… what do you expect," Lauren said giving a half smile. Speed could tell she was worried. He didn't care that they were at work she need a hug and a couple kisses.

"You know what guys. I'll take what I have back to the lab and that way you two can go check on Tyler. I'll tell Horatio. I'm sure he'll understand, and I'll call you if I need anything or if I've found something okay," Calleigh said in her soft southern accent. They thank their friend before heading to their apartment. Calleigh headed back to the lab with the newest evidence.

* * *

Back over on the Seagrass, Eric and Ryan had found nothing but blood, ocean water, seaweed, and the gauze wrap. The same evidence the earlier crime scene had.

Just as they were about to leave, the feeling of being watched came over both CSIs. They turn around but no one is there. That's when Ryan noticed something pinned to one of the interior walls in the boat. He examined it. It was a scroll with words written on it, but it was unreadable. "Was this here earlier Delko?" Ryan asked as he took the scroll off the wall, and slipped it into a clear evidence bag along with the rusty nail that held it up.

"Uh, no I didn't see it, but who knows the way this day has been going anything is possible… let's go Wolfe and get the evidence back to the lab," Eric said picking up his kit and evidence box before heading to the police boat; the haulers were ready to bring the boat back to the lab.


	6. Two Cases Become One

Meanwhile, Speed pulled up, with Lauren into their apartment complex and parked in one of their two parking spaces. He looked at his wife and smiled before leaning in to steal a kiss. "Let's go save my mom for a little while," Speed said with a smile. She smiled back.

"Let's go hot stuff," Lauren said chuckling as she got out of the silver hummer. They headed up to apartment 4D.

As they walked up to the door they could hear their son crying and Speed's mom trying to calm him down. Lauren's heart sank down into her stomach. Speed's did too.

Barbara must have heard them coming because before Speed could get the key in the door it swung open. "Thank God you guys are here. I don't know what else to do. I can't find his pacifier anywhere," Barbara said holding onto a crying, Tyler Speedle. By now he was holding out his arms to Lauren and Speed; Lauren took him.

"Hey my little man… what's the matter?" Already he was slowly calming down. Tyler laid his head on Lauren's shoulder and wrapped his arms around her neck. She could hear him hiccup and sniffle a few times. "Let's find you're pacifier."

Barbara, already cranky said, "You know Lauren he's two years old, he doesn't need a pacifier anymore and that blanket he has needs to go." Speed looked at his mother shocked. Lauren just gave her a stare. She knew that her mother-in-law was stressed, but that was not needed.

"I'll let that go for now mom," Speed said giving her a cold stare then went to help Lauren find Tyler's pacifier. As he walked by the sofa he spotted Tyler's blue cotton blanket and grabbed it.

Lauren was in Tyler's bedroom searching for his pacifier. She found it sitting on his changing table. She found it odd the Speed's mother didn't see it sitting there. "Look what I found, Tyler," Lauren said grabbing his pacifier off the table. He lifted his head up a little and saw what he had been wanting. "Let's give it to daddy so he can wash it off." Tyler nodded his little head and laid it back down on Lauren's shoulder.

Turning to head out of the room, she saw Speed with their son's baby blue cotton blanket he loved so much. "I see you found his blankie. I found his pacifier sitting on the changing table, and what is up with your mother."

"I don't know, babe. She's probably stressed out about something. It would have to be more than just Tyler. He's been like this before and she's never said anything," Speed said handing Lauren the blanket, and in return he took the pacifier before they headed out into the living room.

Lauren sighed and took a seat on their sofa. She handed Tyler his blanket and he soon became sleepy. Speed came back into the living room with a clean blue pacifier. "Here Ty," he said holding it out to his son. Tyler gently took it out of his father's hand and put it into his mouth. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and soon fell asleep.

* * *

Over at the lab, Eric and Ryan were going over their evidence from their crime scene, and Calleigh started going over the note that she had found in the gas station. "Hey Cal, you guys find anything when you went back to the scene?" Eric asked as he wrote something in the evidence log.

"Actually yeah we did. I went into the storage room and I found this," Calleigh said holding up the scroll. "The funny thing is it wasn't there this morning, and I know all of us looked there."

"Really? That's funny because we found one of those at our crime scene," Eric said holding up the same thing Calleigh had. "The oddest thing was I was in the cabin of the boat most of the time and I never saw anyone come in or out. The only time that I wasn't in there was when we first arrived." The three CSIs stood digesting all the new information.

Ryan decided to speak up, but was unsure how his colleagues would take it. "You know when we got down into the cabin area, where the engine room was… it felt eerie. Delko, I don't know if you felt it, but about an hour or so later the air became cold. So cold I could see my breath."

Eric and Calleigh laughed at Ryan, but then Eric said, "Yeah it did have a creepy feeling to it and I did feel the cold air… so Wolfe you're saying the boat's haunted then?" Eric grinned.

Ryan put his hands up in defense. "All I'm saying is it was creepy."

"You guys are something else," Calleigh chimed in laughing. "Anyway, so what does this all mean? We found two scrolls at both crime scenes. Are they connected?"

"By the looks of the scene, the way they were killed, and the fact we found the seaweed, gauze type fabric, and water in the boat, yes I believe they are connected," Eric said showing Calleigh the crime scene photos. She took the pictures from Eric's hand and studied them.

"I'm going to go find H and let him know what we found," Ryan said heading out of the layout room.

"Did you guys find anything else when you went back to the store?" Eric asked Calleigh.

"No, just this scroll that said something, but I can't make it. The ink is all smudged and faded. I noticed the scroll you found has something on too. Can you tell what it says?"

Eric picked up the note again. "Yeah, it says, 'I'm come back for what is rightfully mine, Blake.' That's all it says."

"That's odd. Do you think this is some sort of joke?" Calleigh asked.

Eric shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea… did you guys find any security cameras or anything?"

"You know what, no. We didn't see anything. We searched the place up and down and nothing. I think I'm going to go call Lauren and Tim. Tell them to make a pit stop at the scene and see if they can find one," Calleigh said taking out her cell and dialing Speed's number. "I'll catch ya later, guys." She headed out of the room and down the hall. Eric grabbed both notes and headed off to the prints lab. Maybe they could catch the killer that way.

* * *

Down in the morgue, Horatio opened the doors to the autopsy room. Alexx and the new Medical Examiner were there conducting the autopsies on Al Williams and Tommy Wallace. "Hello ladies, do we have anything yet on our victims?" Horatio asked with a small smile on his face.

Pip stayed quiet while Alexx spoke. "Yes we do Horatio," she said smiling back at the Lieutenant. "Cause of death for both these men was stab wounds to the stomach and around the shoulder area. Guess what else I found… water, seaweed, and gauze in the lungs."

"Oh really?" Horatio moved to his sideways stance and cocked his head.

"Yeah, really. It's all right here for ya, Horatio." Alexx held up the evidence collected from both bodies.

"The scene on the boat looked like the gas station murder… it looks like we have a triple homicide."

"Looks like it Horatio, but that's not my thing that's what you CSIs are for. I'm just a Medical Examiner." Horatio grinned and looked at Pip who was minding her business as she worked on Tommy Wallace. She looked up and he smiled at her, she smiled back.

Horatio knew she was shy and nervous. Joining a whole new team isn't easy, and for her being from a different country makes it even harder. "Miss Kirkpatrick, you're doing a wonderful job," Horatio said. Those words comforted her and she continued her work on Tommy Wallace. Horatio thanked Alexx and went to find his CSIs.

Just as he rounded the corner to the reception area he spotted Ryan walking in his direction. "H, I got something," Ryan said.

"What is it Mr. Wolfe." Horatio stopped in front of Ryan, and assumed his normal position; hands on hips.

"Eric and I found this scroll pinned to one of the walls in the cabin, of the Seagrass. It said something like, 'I've come back for what is rightfully mine, Blake.' I have no idea what that means, Eric doesn't either. Calleigh just got back from the first crime scene, and get this... she found the same scroll we did, although the one she had, the writing was all smudged and we couldn't read it," Ryan explained.

"Okay, I just got back from seeing Alexx. It seems we have two cases that are connected. She found water, seaweed, and the gauze in his lungs."

"Something weird is going on, Horatio. I mean... is this a serial killer or is this just a coincidence?" Ryan was unsure what to think. His gut feeling said that it was more than just a serial killer, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Right now Mr. Wolfe, it looks like these murders are connected. Don't release anything to press, let's keep these investigations tight lipped. Nothing gets out till we know for sure what's going on."

"Got it Horatio. Delko is dusting the scrolls for prints as we speak. The Seagrass was just towed into the garage. I'm headed over there to get a closer look," Ryan said as he started heading to the garage.

"Thank you Mr. Wolfe, keep me posted if you find anything else." With that the two went their separate ways.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Speedles had fallen asleep on the sofa. Tyler was still on his mom's lap fast asleep, and Speed was resting his head on Lauren's shoulder fast asleep; Speed's mother was sitting on a chair watching some TV.

Tyler stirred a little waking Lauren up. Opening her eyes, she looked at the small pocket-watch clock sitting on the end table. "Crap," she said looking around and seeing Barbara watching TV. "Barb, why didn't you wake us up?"

"Honey, I didn't want to wake you. You both have been working hard. Tyler has been sick and you didn't get much rest. I also want to apologize for being rude earlier. I just wasn't feeling well myself and you two are great parents," Barbara said softly.

"It okay, it happens and I understand… Speed, babe wake up we have to get back to work." He didn't move. "Timothy wakeup." Lauren nudged him a little and he groaned and opened his eyes.  
Speed felt his cell phone vibrate indicating he had a voicemail message. He must have turned his ringer down. At the same time the doorbell rang. Lauren got up slowly as to not wake Tyler; he didn't even move.

Opening the door, Lauren saw her best friend, Margaret Osgood. "Oh my gosh Maggie, it's so good to see you," she said quietly as she went to give her longtime friend a hug.

"Hey girlie, I wasn't sure if you were going to be home, but I can see you are." Lauren stepped back and let Margaret in.

"Yeah we just stopped here for a little bit to check on Tyler. Tim's mom called and said he was crying and still wasn't feeling well. As you can see he's passed out." Lauren turned around to show Maggie a sleeping two year old.

"Aw, he's still not feeling good." Lauren shook her head no. "Hey Tim." She waved to him and he walked over to her and gave her a hug.

When he let go he looked at his wife. "Lauren I just listened to my voicemail and Calleigh called. She wants us to head back to the scene to see if we can find a security camera," Speed said rubbing his son's back.

"Okay, but I can't just leave your mom here alone with Tyler again. She's already not feeling good. So maybe I should stay home," Lauren suggested.

Speed thought for a minute. "Babe, as much as I would love that, your father needs us at work." Lauren sighed and knew he was right.

"I'll watch the little man," Margaret piped up.

"Really, you would do that?" Lauren asked sounding relieved.

"Yes of course. You're my best friend and you're like family. Plus I love this little guy."

"Thanks so much Maggie we owe you big time," Lauren said thanking her.

Much to Tyler's dislike he went to Maggie and soon fell back asleep with his pacifier and blankie. Lauren and Speed gathered up their firearms, gave Tyler one last kiss, and headed back to work.


	7. Possible Suspects?

The Questions and Documents Lab had been quiet all day until Eric made his way in. He had been looking for Cynthia Wells, but she was nowhere to be found. Instead there was an unfamiliar face. "Uh, excuse me, is Cynthia Wells here?" Eric asked the unfamiliar woman standing in front of him.

"Oh um, she's on nights now. I'm the new day shift tech. Name is Christina Green," she said with a smile. Being Eric he gave her a flirtatious smile back.

Christina Green was the new questions and documents lab tech. She was fresh out of college with a Bachelor's Degree in Graphology from the University of Miami.

"Well, Miss Green I have a job for you. I need you to figure out if these scrolls here are real or not and anything else you can find. Can you handle that?" Eric asked holding up the battered pieces of parchment.

"I think I can handle that." Christina took the two scrolls – in the evidence bag – and set them on the table. "I'll call you when I find out something."

"Thanks Christina." Eric gave her one last smile and headed out to find Calleigh and Horatio.

On his way to find his fellow colleagues, a part-time lab tech stopped him with some results. "Hey Eric I have something for you. "Aida Rodriguez said handing him the results. "The print you found on the letter came back with a hit on AFIS. A teenage boy named Jon Fog." Eric took the sheet of paper from her and studied it.

"He's nineteen years old and has had priors of breaking and entering, robbery, and grand theft auto. How wonderful. Thanks Aida this helps a lot."

"No problem… good luck with the case."

"Thanks." Eric took out his cell and dialed Horatio's number.

"Horatio." The Lieutenant answered.

"H, I got a lead on who the killer might be. Aida ran the print I found on the scrolls. AFIS came back with a hit. He's a nineteen year old boy named, Jon Fog. He's got priors for a B and E, robbery, and grand theft auto."

"Alright Eric… run with it and take Calleigh. Frank and I are about to question the three from the Seagrass. Keep me posted." With that he hung up. Horatio went off the interrogation rooms and Eric went off to find Calleigh.

"Was that Delko?" Frank asked walking up to Horatio.

"Yes Frank that was. We have a break in the case. I told him and Calleigh to run with it while we question our three suspects," Horatio explained.

"Alright, well the woman is getting nervous. I don't know if it's because she's nervous about being here or if she had something to do with the murders," Frank said shutting his police notepad.

"Okay Frank. I am going to call Mr. Wolfe and have him come down here. I'll take Miss Solley you take Mr. Castle and when Mr. Wolfe gets here he can talk with Mr. Rogers." Frank nodded and went to interrogation room three. Horatio followed suit but went across the room to Elizabeth.

"Miss Solley I need you to tell me everything you have done in the past twenty-four hours, okay."

Elizabeth stirred in her seat. She knew that hitchhiking was illegal and she didn't want to go to jail for it. "Um… I was, I was traveling," she said nervously.

Horatio leaned forward resting his elbows on the glass table. "Ma'am, I need to know where you were going so I can verify your story. If you don't then I can't help you." Elizabeth started tapping her foot on the floor. She didn't know what to say. "Ma'am, I need to know."

"I was traveling to anywhere. I didn't really have a destination. I was walking along the road and I… I saw a man coming. I put out my hand and he picked me up. That's how I've been traveling." She looked down and starting picking at her nails; it was a nervous habit for her.

Horatio folded his hands. "You were hitchhiking?" She said told him, yes. "Miss Solley, if you help us in the investigation... I can make the fines go away, but I need your full cooperation. Can you give that to me?"

"Yes, yes sir."

* * *

Speed and Lauren arrived once again at the gas station. "I think this is a record of some sort. How many times can a CSI visit a crime scene in one day," Lauren said ducking under crime scene tape.  
"What is this stop number three?"

Speed started laughing. "Yeah it's number three."

When they entered the building, the two noticed that the crime scene clean-up had done their jobs. The water was gone, the blood was gone, and everything else that was there before. But something was still off. Speed looked around and noticed what looked like tiny bugs crawling on the floor in the back by the drinks. He started making his way to the back and Lauren started the search for any surveillance cameras.

Speed bent down and shined a light on the moving crawlers, they were maggots. He set his kit down on the floor and opened it, but first took a couple photos. Speed grabbed a pair of latex gloves and some tweezers. He managed to pick up a dead one and looked at it. He scrunched up his nose and grabbed a small jar, and placed a couple dead maggots in it before walking back up the front of the store. "You find anything Lauren?"

Lauren sighed. "No, I really don't think there are any security cameras in here. Where'd you go?"

"I saw something in the back and guess what it was…"

"More water and seaweed?" Lauren asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, something odd… to me anyway." Speed opened his kit again and showed Lauren the jar of maggots. Lauren made a disgusted look. "This case just keeps getting weirder and weirder," he added. Lauren couldn't agree more.

"Okay, so if there is a camera system in here I can't find it. Well it's not obvious," Lauren said shining her flashlight up to drop ceiling. No cameras were present. She sighed. "I guess we're going to have to look harder."

Within about twenty minutes, Speed and Lauren had search the store up, down, left, right, and every which way. They couldn't find anything. Speed was about to call Calleigh when Lauren spotted something odd on the counter by the cash registers. "Wait, hold on Tim." Lauren turned her little flashlight back on shining it at the ninety-nine cent items. As she walked closer she saw a little black dot. "Tim, I think I found one." She picked up her camera and took a picture. Setting the camera down Lauren put on a pair of latex gloves and pulled at the small black device; it was in fact was a camera. "Oh, my, gosh, it's really a camera." Speed shut his phone and walked up behind Lauren.

"He probably didn't want anyone to notice the surveillance. These cameras are new to the market. Some of them are even smaller than this." He took the camera from Lauren and placed it in an evidence bag. "Now the question is how are we going to get the tapes if the man who was killed is the only one who knew about them."

"Well, look at you Mr. Speedle. Reading up on the newest technology. I'm very proud of you honey," Lauren giggled.

Now that Speed and Lauren knew what they were looking for, they recovered three more cameras and had located the surveillance tapes. The owner had built a secret room off the back of the building where the records, TVs, and tapes were stored.

"Let's get these back to the lab," Speed said grabbing the evidence box they had put the video tapes in.

* * *

Back at the police department, Eric and Calleigh were questioning Jon Fog, the prime suspect in Bob Franklyn's murder. When they had arrived they filled in the young suspect on why he was brought in; he denied every bit of it. "Jon, where were you earlier today?" Eric asked holding onto the bag with the scroll in it. Calleigh was standing next to him.

"I was working dude, check with my boss," the nineteen year old said nonchalantly.

"What time was that at, Jon?" Calleigh asked setting a folder on the black glass table.

"7:00a.m to 4:00p.m.," he retorted.

Calleigh gave Eric a look knowing that if his story was correct, putting him at the scene would be near impossible. "It's true, here call my boss CSI Duquesne," Jon added giving her cheesy grin as he held out his cell phone to her.

"Mr. Fog, give us a moment please," Calleigh said in her polite southern accent. "Eric can I see you outside for a sec?" Eric followed her out.

"What's up Cal?" Eric asked letting the interrogation room door shut.

"Something about this boy isn't sitting well with me. I know he said he was at work, but I just have this feeling he's involved. We need to find a way to hold onto him. His prints were on the note Eric." Calleigh searched her friend's eyes for anything that told her he believed her.

"Maybe Cal, but his place of work is a paper store. He could have touched the parchment when he sold it to the actual killer," Eric explained. He wanted to believe her and he too felt something odd about this teenager. Proving it would be the challenge.

A woman cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Calleigh I have the DNA you found on the nail," said DNA analyst Maxine Valera. "Is that the suspect?" she added handing Calleigh the file.

"Yes it is Valera," she answered with a sigh as she looked at the results. "What do we got here?"

"Well, the suspect in there doesn't match my results. In fact the results aren't even male."

Calleigh looked at the DNA results. "It's female," she said shocked.

"And CODIS got a hit it looks like," Eric pointed out taking the bottom sheet from the folder. "Heather Gabby… look at this she's nineteen to and her record is the same as Mr. No-it-all in there.

"Well, hope everything works out. If you need anything I'll be in DNA," Valera said and walked away.

Eric looked at Calleigh and she looked at him. "Well, let's see if Jon knows her," he said and headed back into the questioning room. Calleigh felt her cell vibrate. She had received a text message. It was from Lauren saying that she and Speed had found the surveillance system and were bringing back the tapes. Somehow she felt a little better about her intuition that Jon Fog wasn't as innocent as he made it out to be.

"Jon, do you know this person," Eric started, setting the sheet down in from of the suspect. Jon looked down and shook his head no.

"Nah man, I don't know that chick. She looks like a whack job," Jon said.

"Are you sure Jon? You looked at the picture like you knew her. I could see it in your facial expression." Eric knew he was lying.

Calleigh walked up and whispered in his ear, "Lauren and Tim found cameras and are bringing the tapes back to the lab."

"Jon, come on if we find out you're lying then we can't help you anymore. Two other CSIs are on their way back from the crime see with surveillance video. Are you going to be on it?" Eric asked forcefully.

"Nah man I told you. I had nothin' to do with that man's murder. I never even seen him before." Eric sighed in frustration.

"Well, Jon we have your fingerprint on this scroll. We're holding you for now," Calleigh said calmly.

A uniformed police officer took Jon from the interrogation room and escorted him to holding. "We'll get him Eric… okay so we need to bring in this Heather girl. Frank's busy so I think I'm going to go grab Virginia. I believe she's still here."

"Yeah, I just saw her right before I came down here," Eric said sighing with frustration.

"Okay, well let's go get this girl and see what she has to say about our little friend Jon and our victim."

"Alright, and I hope Lauren and Speed find something on those tapes."


	8. A Ghost Killer?

Tyler Jenson, the audio and video tech, sat in the video lad reviewing the surveillance tapes Speed and Lauren had dropped off. Right off the bat he found something unusual that made him scratch his head. He noted the time of the occurrence and continued watching the tapes.

Tyler had about an hour left of tapes when Lauren and Speed came in. "Hey Ty, did you find anything on the tapes?" Lauren asked pulling a chair; Speed did the same.

"Yeah actually I did. I have about an hour or so left, but I can assure you when you see this, you will be shocked," Tyler said getting the clip ready. "So I heard your son was sick. Is he feeling better at all?"

"He's getting there, but thanks for asking," Speed answered. Tyler got the clip ready just as Horatio came in.

"Lauren, Speed, Tyler... did we get anything off the tapes?" Horatio grabbed a spare chair and sat next to Lauren.

"I haven't finished yet, but about an hour into the first tape I got something weird. Here I'll play it and let you take a look." Tyler pressed play on the tape player.

Not too long after, Horatio, Lauren and Speed saw what Tyler had been talking about. On the screen just before Bob Franklyn was murdered a thick mass of what looked like smoke engulfed him.

Horatio sat in his seat, dumbfounded. "Tyler, play that again please." He did and again they saw the thick smoke consume the man. "You guys didn't smell any smoke did you, because I didn't."

"No, I didn't H. I don't think anyone smelled any smoke either," Speed said looking at Lauren.

"Yeah, I didn't smell any smoke and there wasn't any fire damage. The only thing I smelled was sea water and the smell you would get after a heavy rain. But we know it hasn't rained in the past forty-eight hours," Lauren said after Speed was finished.

"Tyler play that again and loop it for me please," Horatio instructed. Tyler once again did as he was told. The four sat there for several minutes watching the murder over and over again.

"Tyler, stop it right there," Lauren blurted out and stood up. No one even flinched. "If you look real close you can see something in the smoke." Lauren took her pointer finger and outline what she thought looked like a figure on the TV screen.

"Yeah, I can see that, Lauren. Tyler, play it through slowly please." Tyler hit a button and the video began to play in slow motion, frame by frame.

"But look at it as the…" Speed didn't know what to call it. "Look at the ball of smoke as it leaves. Whatever is in there disappears with it. It's like the smoke is… is in a way attached to the figure. The smoke moves with it. If it was real person then…"

"Then it would disappear or fade away. The smoke moves with the figure it's surrounding," Lauren said finishing Speed's thought.  
"Exactly."

Horatio stared at the screen for a moment then said, "Okay what I want done is if you could, Tyler, make a copy of this frame by frame then finish watching the rest."

"Sure thing, Lt. Caine," Tyler responded and got to work before he finished watching the rest of the tapes.

"Lauren, Speed, meet me in layout in about five minutes okay… good work guys." With that Horatio left the room and Lauren and Speed soon followed.

* * *

Exactly five minutes later everyone was in the layout room; evidence from the two murder scenes was spread across the rectangular table. On the picture wall were the pictures Tyler had printed of the mysterious fog like apparition; the scrolls were still down in the questions and documents lab. "Okay so… Nick, Mike, and Elizabeth, they're stories checked out. Eric, Calleigh what did you get on Jon Fog and the female suspect?" Horatio asked.

"For right now they're stories check out, but there's something about them that isn't sitting well with me. I don't what it is. I have them in holding for now," Calleigh said.

"Okay, Lauren, Speed the tapes." The two looked at one another and decided Speed would talk.

"We had Tyler go through the video, and he found something interesting." He walked over to where the pictures hung, and Lauren followed him. She found a pencil on the table and grabbed it to point out the mysterious figure in the fog. Speed continued, "You can see that in the beginning everything is normal, but as you move along you can see, what appears to be smoke." He paused to let everyone look closely at the pictures.

Calleigh was the first to notice the strange figure. "Is there someone in the smoke?"

"Yeah, if you look closely," Lauren started as she outlined the apparition. "You can see that there appears to be a figure or some kind of apparition. Looking at the rest of the pictures here, although hard to see, the figure moves with the fog. You can tell better on the tape, but Tyler is still working on them."

"Wow, that is so weird," Calleigh said astonished.

"We either have psycho as the murderer or one killer ghost," Eric said making a cheesy joke.

"That's real cute Delko," Speed said sarcastically.

They all looked over at Ryan who had been quiet. "Mr. Wolfe, is everything alright?" Horatio asked.

"Uh, yeah, Horatio. Everything is fine it's just that… okay, this may sound a little weird, but have you ever heard the legend about South Beach? My grandfather father used to tell us all these crazy stories when we were kids."

"No Wolfe we haven't," Eric said with a grin.

"Please enlighten us," Speed added.

"Okay well back in 1796, there was a leper named Blake, who decided to move his Klan, I guess to what we know as South Beach. Well, on their way down here they were misguided by some smoke right into a fog bank. Little did they know a group of men were planning to take over their ship called the Elizabeth Dane. They had gold on their vessel."

"And how does this relate to the case Wolfe?" Speed interrupted crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm getting there Speed. So every seventy years they say Blake and his crew come back to seek their revenge on the residences of South Beach in a bank of fog. Tomorrow happens to be seventy years since the last sighting."

Eric busted out laughing making Calleigh laugh. "Wolfe, are you serious you actually believe that crap. I mean your grandfather could have said that just to scare you."

"Hey, I'm just saying that it could be someone copying what they heard. I'm not saying that I believe the story. Why Delko do you believe?" Ryan asked smirking.

"Alright, enough you two," Horatio said with a smile. "Speed… Lauren anything else.

"Yeah, actually when we went back to the first scene I found some maggots in the back next to where our victim was laying. Lauren and I were about to go test them," Speed said.

"Really?" Ryan chimed in.

"Yeah, it was weird though because when we first arrived and the second time we went back, Calleigh, Lauren, and me didn't see anything back there."

"What if they were on one of the food shelves and moved to the floor." Speed looked at his wife. She had a point. "I mean it could happen. We've seen it before." They all nodded.

"So, we have no DNA from the killer just blood from the victims. We have sea water and seaweed, video evidence of a figure in a ball of smoke, two prime suspects, two scrolls with with some writing on it, and a jar of maggots," Horatio stated hands on his hips. "Okay here's what I want to do… Lauren, Speed head over to trace and see what you get with the maggots, Ryan head over to Q/D to see what Miss Green has on the two scrolls, Eric and Calleigh see if you can find anything on Seagrass it's sitting the garage as we speak."

"Okay Horatio, but what are you going to do?" Lauren asked her father.

"I'm going to go check on Tyler see how he's doing." With that everyone went to do their assigned tasks.

* * *

Ryan walked over to the questions and documents lab. 'Miss Green,' Ryan thought to himself. 'Another new team member.' He pushed the door open and saw Christina Green standing at a square table looking at what he came for, the scrolls. "Uh, excuse me are you Miss Green?" Ryan asked.  
The young woman looked up. "Yep that's me, but you can call me Christina, and you are…"

"Sorry, Ryan Wolfe… CSI." The two shook hands. "I'm here to see if you have anything on those scrolls that we found."

"Actually yeah I do. The one from the first crime scene is different from the second crime scene," she said.

"How so?" Ryan asked cocking his head to the side.

"The one from the first scene was written with just your plain old ball point pen and some paper that looks like old parchment. Then the second one is authentic so to speak. The ink and parchment dates back to the 1700s. Late 1700s to be exact."  
"So you're saying the one Delko and I found is from the late 1700s and the one Lauren, Speed, and Calleigh found is a fake." Ryan thought that was odd. He thought for sure they would be the same and that the two teenagers sitting down in holding had split up and planted the notes.

"Well, no not exactly. If you're looking for authenticity in terms of ink and parchment then yes the first one is fake, but in terms of whether it's from the killer or not is up to you."

Ryan nodded and remembered the writing that had been present on the notes. "What about the writing do they match?"

"Um, there was no useable writing on the first note, sorry Ryan," Christina apologized.

"It's alright, but do you mind if I bring in someone and get a second opinion. It's just I have this gut feeling there's something there. It's nothing against you Christina." He could see she was hurt by what he said, but there was something there and the only person he knew who could find it was Cynthia Wells. "Thanks again Christina. What you found out helps a lot." He went in search of Horatio.

* * *

Meanwhile over in the towing garage, Eric and Calleigh began there thorough search of the Seagrass.

"You think we're going to find anything on here Eric?" Calleigh asked setting her camera down gently on the floor.

"Honestly Calleigh, I don't think so. Ryan and I went through this boat with a fine tooth comb. The only things we found were the note, water, seaweed, gauze wrap, and tons of blood," Eric said grabbing his little flashlight and walking up to the boat. He shined the flashlight on the outer structure to see if anything could be there. Being that the vessel was in the water while he and Ryan processed it, they could have missed something. "Hey Cal, you think Ryan's story is true?"

A smile appeared on the southern woman's face. "I don't know maybe some of it's true. Like how South Beach was formed. I mean it could happen. The part about this leper named, Blake coming back, or whatever the guy's name was, is a little far-fetched. Maybe Ryan's grandfather jazzed up the story a little to make it scarier."

"Yeah, I could see that too." Eric continued to inspect the outside of the boat; he couldn't find anything except scrape marks along the bottom. "Hey Cal come here a sec. Look at these scrape marks. They look deeper than just your everyday wear and tear." Calleigh set down the items she had in her hand and walked over to Eric. He shined his light on the deep gashes. "See look."

"Yeah, that could be possible tool marks from the killer. Right now I think we'll take anything we can get. This case just keeps getting weirder and weirder," Calleigh said staring intently and what Eric had found. "Let's get a casting of this and see if Speedle can do anything with it."

"Sounds good to me."

For the next several minutes Calleigh and Eric took impressions of the marks on the boat.

While Calleigh mixed the molding cement Eric watched her. 'Should I ask her now or later? Should I even ask her at all?' Eric asked himself. Speed and Ryan told him to go for it.

For a while now Eric had been getting these weird, but good feelings when he was around Calleigh. He told Speed that he was falling for the blonde haired southerner. "Hey Calleigh," Eric choked out. Yes, yes he was going to ask her. Speed told him to, and if Speed hadn't done that with Lauren who knows what might've happened.

"Yeah Eric?" Calleigh responded casting the last mold off the boat.

"Um, I was wondering if you were uh… if you were doing anything after work… or should I say when this crazy case is over." He could feel his hands start to sweat. 'What if she says no? I'll look like an idiot, but if she says yes then…' His thoughts were broken when he heard his co-workers voice.

"Earth to Eric, hello," Calleigh laughed as she waved a hand in front of his face.

"Yeah, sorry I zoned out for a minute. What did you say?" He mentally crossed his fingers.

"I said I would love too." Calleigh had a big smile on her face and so did Eric.

"Great… yeah, so where would you like to go?" His body felt relaxed now.

"Um, well I'm not sure. Where would you like to go?" she asked.

"How about Auntie Belham's Diner. I know it's not the best place, but Lauren and Speed went there for their first date and look at them now. Married and they have a little boy." Eric could feel his face turn red. He had said too much. He looked at Calleigh her cheeks were rosy red.

"Sounds great, can't wait." A long pause followed.

"Well, I guess we should get these over to Speed, and see what he can do and see if they got anything off those maggots," Eric said.

"Yeah, I'll take them down and you keep on looking. See if you can find anything else." Eric nodded and went back to work. He smiled as Calleigh walked away.

* * *

Down in trace Lauren and Speed had just finished putting the sample from the maggots into the Mass Spec. Now all they had to do was wait. "Speed, this has to be the weirdest case I have ever been on. It's almost like what Eric said, a killer ghost." Lauren sighed and sat in one of the rolling chairs; Speed sat down too.

"I would say top three… let's not talk about the case right now."

Lauren said a little shocked. "Um okay, did you have something in mind?"

"Yeah, actually I did since we're alone right now… I was wondering what you thought about having another baby?" Speed asked not sure how she would react.

"Another baby? Right now?" Lauren was shocked he asked that. He at first didn't know if he wanted kids at all. Then they had Tyler, who was a shock, but when he was born it was a feeling he couldn't describe. Speed nodded yes. Lauren smiled. "Look at you wanting another baby. In the beginning you weren't sure if you wanted any kids."

"Yes I know. Horatio and my mother gave it to me, but yeah I guess right now. You looked beautiful." Lauren blushed a little. "But if you don't want to right now that's okay. You're the one doing all the hard work."

Lauren laughed and said, "True, true, but I think a baby right now with Tyler just turning two would be a little much maybe in like a couple months we could start trying that way he'll be almost three and hopefully out of the terrible twos."

Speed got up from his chair and walked up behind Lauren wrapping his arms around her. Resting his chin on her shoulder he whispered, "I can't wait and I love you." He kissed her cheek.

"I love you too," Lauren said back just as the results came out of the printer. "Looks like the results are in. Oh, what could it be," Lauren said acting silly; Speed laughed.

He reached for the results and started looking them over. An odd look came a crossed his face. Lauren had only seen this a few times. "Tim what is it?"

"Come here look at this. Look what the maggots had in them." He handed Lauren the results. She looked at it and a look of shock appeared pn her face.

"Are you sure this is right?" Lauren took another look. The Mass Spec wouldn't lie.


	9. We Have Nothing

The results from the from the maggots hadn't been case-breaking, but more along the lines of odd. In fact it presented the question of is this even related to the case. "Mycobacterium Leprae?" Lauren said still trying to figure out why something like that would be in the maggots. "The maggots have leprosy?"

"Also known as Hansen's Disease," Speed said.

Lauren was still in disbelief. "What the hell is going on? Bob Franklyn didn't have this did he? Alexx never said anything about him having leprosy."

"No. I don't think she did," Speed said crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the table.

"Oh my gosh, this is so weird." Lauren started laughing as Calleigh walked into the trace lab.

"Hey guys, what's weird?" Calleigh asked cheerfully.

"Take a look at what we found inside the buggies," Lauren said. She handed Calleigh the results.

Calleigh scrunched up her face. "Hansen's Disease? Are you sure?"

Speed sighed. "The Mass Spec doesn't lie, Calleigh." She gave him a funny look. "I take it you and Delko got something off the Seagrass," Speed said acknowledging the evidence box in Calleigh's hands.

"Um, yeah... okay wow that's so odd, and yes Eric and I found some deep gash marks on the bottom of the boat. Since you're an expert on impressions we figured you could help out." Calleigh set the box on the lab table along with the papers she had in her hands.

"He's all yours Calleigh. You can stay here and help Speed. I'll go help Delko out after I find that Lieutenant of ours," Lauren said stripping off her latex gloves and throwing in them in the trash. She gave Speed's hand a little squeeze. "Finish our conversation tonight then?"

He smiled. "Yeah, sounds good."

"Good luck guys." Lauren grabbed the file Calleigh had set down on the table and headed out.

Being curious like always, Calleigh asked what they were talking about. Speed debated on whether or not to tell Calleigh, but knew Lauren would say something sooner rather than later. "Lauren and I were talking about having another baby," he said putting on a new pair of latex gloves. He reached for the molds the ballistics expert had brought to him; he started examining the tool marks.

"Oh wow! Speed, that's great, congratulations!"

Speed chuckled. "Thanks, Lauren was shocked I asked her too." They continued with their conversation as they looked over the evidence.

* * *

Horatio exited the A/V lab with case breaking evidence. In the last twenty minutes of the surveillance tapes, Tyler had spotted Heather and Jon entering the gas station, scroll and nail in hand. He was on his way over to the police department to question them when he saw his daughter walking over to him. "H! I got something on the maggots Tim found at the gas station," Lauren said holding up a Miami-Dade Police Department folder.

Horatio opened the folder and began to read the results. He arched an eyebrow. "Hansen's Disease?"

"Yeah, can you believe it?" Lauren looked at her father and waited for him to respond.

"Um okay… were you two careful in handling these?" Lauren nodded her head yes. "Okay…" The Lieutenant didn't know what to do now. Lauren started laughing. This was only the second or third time she had seen her father like this; he didn't know where to go from here. "How about we keep the results in mind?" Horatio was dumbfounded. "Just keep them in mind. I'm not sure what to think about this. Did you and Speed get anything else?"

"No, just this, but Calleigh came by and said her and Eric found some tool marks on the bottom of the boat. Speed is helping her figure out what they might be. I was just about to head over to the garage and help Eric finish. Did Tyler get anything else from the tapes?" Lauren noticed Horatio had a file in his hands.

"Yeah. The two suspects in holding… we caught them on tape." Horatio opened the file showing Lauren the stills Tyler had printed off for him.

"Looks like they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. There's no denying that," Lauren said pointing to the two figures in the photograph. "Well if you need anything find me."

"I will sweetheart." Lauren smiled. "Same with you. You two find something let me know." They went their separate ways.

* * *

Virginia sat at her desk looking through some case files when Horatio walked in. He stopped and watched her for a moment. She moved a couple strands of her long curly hair behind her ear as she continued to study the files. Horatio smiled to himself; he missed her when she was gone. "Hi Virginia," he said in a soft voice.

Virginia looked up and smiled. "Hi Horatio."

"You uh, you ready to go pay our two suspects? Tyler found them on the surveillance video planting the note."

"Interesting, but I thought Frank was gonna stick with the case?" She stood up and straightened her cream color pant suit.

"Frank had to take care of something so you're the lead detective now, Yelina is on vacation." Horatio handed her the file. She quickly reviewed it before following Horatio into the interrogation room where Heather and Jon were waiting.

"Heather, Jon how about we try this again, okay," Horatio said. Virginia opened the folder and set the surveillance photos on the glass table. Both Heather and Jon looked at them. "If you don't tell me the truth I can't help you. Do you understand?" Horatio looked both of the teens in their eyes. His stare began to break them down. They knew they had been caught.

Heather swallowed hard. "Okay, we put the note in the store, but it wasn't my idea, Jon dragged me along. I had no choice," she said looking down at her hands.

"Heather you always have a choice. You just made the wrong one," Virginia said picking up the file.  
Jon looked at Heather with disgust. "It wasn't just my idea Heather. You're the one who mentioned it. You said it would be funny," Jon said hastily.

"So it doesn't mean we had to go do it. I told you it was a bad idea and now we're in the damn police department about to be arrest 'cause your stupid ass thought it was funny!" Heather said shouting. Horatio and Virginia looked at each other, then at the two teenagers.

Jon looked at Heather with evil eyes. "You're such a bitch you know that Heather. You… are… a… bitch."

Horatio decided it was time to step in. "Excuse me, that is enough!" Horatio caught their attention. "Let me make something clear here…" He placed his sunglasses on the table and took a seat in the black roller chair. "One, Mr. Fog that was unnecessary, and two, it does not matter whose idea it was you both went through with it. Finally, why did you kill Bob Franklyn?"

The two gave the Lieutenant a quizzical look. "I don't know nothin' about no murder. We just put that note thing there and left," Jon said leaning back in his chair.

"Why?" Virginia asked.

"Look, you guys ever hear about that Fog story? How it became populated." Horatio and Virginia hid their laughs. Jon Fog was a comical boy, who tried to act cool.

"Yes, briefly," Horatio said remembering Ryan's little story.

"You mind as well tell Lt. Caine the story," Heather said.

"Well, since you heard it I'll make it brief. Tomorrow is the day the Fog is supposed to be coming back taking its revenge out on Miami people. Last night shit started happenin'. Crazy shit right. We was jokin' around when we heard the news about this dude's murder. So Heather put out the idea and I said let's do it. So we did." Jon went silent. He was done talking.

"So you thought it was funny to tamper with a crime scene?" Horatio said leaning forward and folding his hands.

"At the time," Heather said softly.

Horatio looked them in the eyes. "Did you also know... that tampering with a crime scene is a felony offense? That means at least a year in jail."

"Jail time, are you serious? We just put a piece of paper in a gas station thing," Jon said.

"You tampered with a criminal investigation," Virginia said firmly.

"What's going to happen to use?" Heather asked distraught.

"You're going to go to prison or maybe you can make a deal and cut off some time or maybe even get probation. It's up to the judge," Virginia said as Horatio stood up. A couple uniformed officers walked up behind Jon and Heather, made them stand up, and took them away.

"I don't think they killed Bob Franklyn," Horatio said once they were alone.

"Those two don't have the brains to do anything like that. There is no way they could commit murder," Virginia said laughing a little.

Horatio smile but then sighed in frustration. His team and he had nothing except two kids who thought it was funny to pull a prank. They may have found out where the first note came from but the second note was a mystery. There was no way Jon and Heather planted the second scroll; the two murders were still unsolved. "You'll figure it out we'll figure it out, Red. Don't worry. I have faith."


	10. A Dead End Case or Something More?

***7:00 PM***

The case was a dead end. Horatio and his team had two teens, who thought it was funny to plant fake evidence; video of some strange object in a bank of smoke; maggots with leprosy, which made no sense; one fake scroll and one supposedly real one; no murder weapon; time of deaths and cause of deaths.

Horatio called his team into the layout room to review the evidence once again. He even called Alexx and Miss Kirkpatrick. Everyone was quiet for a moment as they surveyed the evidence in the on-going investigation. Each CSI had a folder in their hands, with new evidence. "Okay, so what new, if any, evidence do we have?" Horatio asked his CSIs.

Ryan went first, "We already know that the scroll found at the first scene was a fake, but I managed to get what was written, with help from Cynthia. It read, 'We want our money.' And obviously that's not what the second one said. Other than that I have nothing," he said with a sigh.

Calleigh decided to go next. She presented the results she and Speed found. "The markings found on the Seagrass didn't have any distinct tool marks, just very thin lines. Although, at the starting point the gash was deeper like when you take an ice pick and stab it into something then start dragging it. Speed and I tested that theory out, and found the ice pick to be too big," the Ballistics expert explained. She looked over at Speed and he took over.

"When we weren't getting the right results I had an idea. That case a while back with Marty Jones, the salvage guy. He had one of those prosthetic arms. I remembered he had uh, I guess a pirates hook. It's small and pointy so I said why not. The markings were a perfect match." Speed laid the photographs of the impressions and the hook they used for testing. "But I mean really it could have come from anything that size and shape… the hook happened to match."

"Okay, so nothing that would lead to the killer," Horatio said.

"No not unless the killer was a pirate or someone who lived underwater," Speed joked.

Sighing Horatio looked at Lauren and Eric. "What did you guys find?"

"Well, most of you all know about the maggots found at the first scene. They popped positive for Hansen's Disease. Then when I went to help Delko out a little while later we found another piece of evidence connecting the two scenes," Lauren said.

Eric took over. "We found maggots there as well. Lauren and I immediately sent them over to trace and had Belmontes test them. The results were the same, Hansen's Disease," he informed everyone as he set the results on the table like Speed had. "Other than that we have nothing. More confusion than case breaking."

"Well, given the leprosy in the maggots I had Alexx and Pip take blood and run it. I wanted and Eric wanted to see if any of our victims had it." Lauren looked over at Alexx.

"Just got those results back sugah. Pip has them," she said with a smile.

Pip hesitated for a moment as she opened the folder with the results. "Um, the results were negative for all three victims."

"Damnit," Lauren mumbled under her breath.

"Sorry," Pip apologized.

"It's okay Miss Kirkpatrick it's not your fault," Horatio chimed in.

"There's nothing, H. They all lead to dead ends," Ryan said resting his hands on the table. "The note from the boat is just creepy, and whoever left it is probably just fooling around like Heather and Jon… except more experienced."

"Well, I say we stay a couple more hours. If we can't find anything then we call it quits for the night and start fresh tomorrow. We meet back here at nine," Horatio said to his team. "Alexx, Miss Kirkpatrick, go back to the bodies. Everyone else do what you need to do. I have some things to take care of." Alexx and Pip headed back to the morgue while the four CSIs stayed behind.

Speed, Calleigh, Lauren, and Eric stood in the layout room looking at the evidence from the case. Nothing made sense anymore. The story Ryan brought to the table was starting to become more believable. Calleigh and Lauren looked at one another and started laughing. "What are you guys laughing about?" Eric asked.

"Ryan's story," Calleigh said still laughing.

"Hey don't be making fun of it," Ryan said. "My grandfather said it was true."

Controlling her laugher Lauren added, "No Wolfe, we aren't making fun of your story. It's just that with all the evidence we have, which leads to nowhere… it's actually believable. It's the closest thing we have to an answer." Ryan looked back at the two women standing next to him and smiled.

* * *

Barbara Speedle and Maggie Osgood walked into the crime lab with a crying Tyler Speedle. They had tried everything to calm him down: a warm bath, a bottle, his pacifier, a nap, but nothing would do. They decided to take him to his parents seeing as he calmed down when they had come home earlier.

"Excuse me… can we speak to Tim and Lauren Speedle?" Barbara asked Paula, the front desk lady.

"Yes sure, hold on a moment." Paula turned around and opened the secured door behind her. "Lauren, Speedle, there's some people here to see you." She came back out to the desk. "They'll be right with you. They're busy with a case right now. You can wait over there." Paula pointed to the long row of chairs.

Barbara looked at Maggie then at her grandson; he had calmed down to a quiet whimper. She smiled and gently rubbed his back. "He's so precious, isn't he? Tyler looks so much like Timothy, but sometimes I see Lauren in him when he smiles.

Maggie gave Tyler a small kiss on his cheek; he rested his head on her shoulder. "Yes he is. Love him to pieces. I can't wait to have kids. Just need to find the right man," she said.  
"Don't worry honey, you will. I believe there's someone out there for everyone. For all you know he could be right around the corner."

Maggie laughed. "Well, I hope not right now. Tim just came around the corner with Lauren." Barbara laughed too. She would have to agree with Maggie on that one. Barbara loved Lauren and knew she was perfect for her son. The two often got the 'cute couple' tag; Maggie had been the one who started it. Maggie's smile quickly faded when she saw the looks on her friends' faces. They looked tired and worn out, and Lauren looked pale.

"Hi honey, sorry to bother you like this I know you're busy with work and all, but Tyler just kept crying and we couldn't get him to stop," Speed's mother apologized.

"No, it's alright. Work is slow and the case we're working on is going nowhere. We could use a break," Speed said sighing.

"Tyler, look who's here… mommy and daddy," Maggie said rubbing his back. His little head popped up and Lauren and Speed saw his red and puffy eyes. Tyler held out his little arms to his parents; Speed took him.

"Hey my little man." Tyler sighed and rested his head on Speed's chest. He mumbled what sounded like 'daddy'. "How long has he been like this?"

"Um… for about a couple hours now. We tried everything. We couldn't get him to stop. We had to bring him in. Sorry honey. I know you're busy with everything," his mother said.

Out of the blue, Lauren started to feel nauseous again. She tried hiding it, but she started to feel dizzy. She grabbed the back of Speed's shirt to steady herself.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked concerned as he put his arm around his wife's waist to keep her from falling.

Lauren closed her eyes to compose herself. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I think the sun got the best of me today. My head is pounding right now," she said.

"Honey, why don't you come home with us? I'm sure your father wouldn't mind. In fact I think he would insist," Barbara chimed in.

"Yeah, I think you're right… I need to sit down. I feel like I'm going to puke."

* * *

Horatio watched his daughter from a far and knew it was time for not only her to go home, but for his whole team to head home. The day had been extremely hot and muggy, and his CSIs had worked hard enough; they deserved to get some rest.

As he started to walk over to his family something caught his eye outside. He stopped and looked out the window; in the distance he could see the Atlantic Ocean blanketed by a long mysterious glowing fog bank still miles and miles away from shore.


	11. Date Night

Hanging in the Fog

Cascades of dead still palm-fronds

Like cold dark fireworks

- The Book of Counted Sorrows, Dean R. Koontz

Calleigh and Eric moved slowly as they gathered up their belongings; Ryan was still talking with Horatio. They were thankful he had called it a day. Everyone was drained and needed food and a shower. The door to the locker room opened and Lauren walked in first then Speed with a half sleeping Tyler in his arms. Calleigh was the first to notice.

"Oh my goodness! He's getting so big, Tim," Calleigh said her eyes sparkling with excitement. Lauren went and sat on the bench near her locker; Speed kept his eye on her.

"Yeah, time goes by fast. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital waiting for him," Speed said looking from Tyler to Calleigh.

"Can I hold him?" Calleigh asked; her eyes were sparkling.

Speed looked at his son; his eyes were open and looking at Calleigh. Tyler looked at his father then at Calleigh again. He held out his little arms to her and she took him. "Hi Tyler. You're getting so big." He wrapped his little arms around Calleigh's neck and laid his head on her shoulder. "Aw, and tired too."

"Yeah," Speed said with a smile as he looked over at Lauren. She was still sitting on the bench; her head was resting in her hands. "Hey Calleigh can you watch Tyler for a minute?"

"Yeah sure, where are you going?" Calleigh asked.

"I just want to talk to Lauren for a minute."

"Okay." She smiled.

Speed walked over to his wife and sat down next to her. "Hey, you okay?" he asked. He heard a little sniffle come from her. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

Lauren sat up straight and looked at his handsome face, she said, "I don't know Tim. I'm so tired. My back hurts. My head hurts. I don't know… hormones I guess."

"Then let's go. I think we're getting take out tonight. I think Horatio mentioned pizza or Chinese," Speed said standing up.

"Mmm Chinese sounds amazing right now," Lauren said standing up and giving Speed a hug.

"Food sounds amazing right now." Lauren laughed. Her husband loved food. "I'm starving."

"Let me get my stuff and then we can head out." Lauren gave him a quick kiss and collected her belongings from her locker.

As Speed and Lauren made their way back to Calleigh and Eric a pregnant lab tech walked in. Lauren stopped and looked at woman her a moment. It wasn't because she was pregnant, but because Lauren had a thought, 'I could be pregnant.' She placed a hand on her stomach. "You alright Lauren?" Eric asked noticing her pale complexion.

"Uh yeah I'm fine. I just thought about something, but no need to worry. So what are you guys doing tonight?" Lauren asked changing the subject.

"Calleigh and I are going out to dinner at Auntie Belham's," Eric said smiling.

"Mmm, that sounds really good. Cheeseburgers and fries and caffeine free Dr. Pepper."

Speed laughed. "I thought you wanted Chinese takeout."

"I changed my mind. We can have that tomorrow." She laughed. "Come on let's head out. I might pass out if I don't get any food in me."

Calleigh and Eric went off to dinner together; Barbara Speedle headed home to her husband; Lauren, Speed, Tyler, Virginia, Maggie, and Ryan all headed over to Horatio's place after ordering takeout from Auntie Belham's.

* * *

At Auntie Belham's Diner, Calleigh and Eric sat in a booth near the window. Their conversation started off slow and somewhat awkward, after all it was a date. "Tyler is getting so big isn't he," Eric said taking a sip of his coco-cola.

Calleigh chuckled. She could tell he was nervous; she was a little nervous too. Calleigh had just recently realized her feelings toward her long-time friend. She always had her guard up after she had a couple failed relationships with John Hagan and Peter Elliot, but after seeing how wonderful Lauren and Speed relationship was working she began to let her guard down. Calleigh immediately started falling for Eric.

"Yeah he's getting big. It seems like just yesterday he was being born."

"Remember when we went to see them in the hospital, Speed's mother told us he fainted as Tyler was almost here," Eric laughed.

Calleigh laughed again. "Yeah, that was pretty funny. Virginia said she caught him right before he hit the floor. You know they're thinking about having another one. Tim really wants another one, and I think this time he wants a girl."

"That's exciting. They're great parents and Lauren looks beautiful pregnant. You ever think about having children?" Eric asked.

Calleigh was shocked at that question; it caught her off guard. Of course she wanted a child maybe more, but not in the near future. "Yes of course, but right now no. You?"

"Yeah, definitely when I find the right woman." Eric reached out and gently took her hand a squeezed it.

Out of the blue, a male voice spoke, "Hi Lamb Chop!"

Calleigh jumped. "Dad! What are you doing here, and you're as quiet as a mouse."

"Sorry honey," Duke Duquesne said with a smile. "It's just I saw you and wanted to come say hi."

"Hi dad, you remember Eric Delko, my colleague," Calleigh said slightly embarrassed.

Duke took a step back to take a good look at Eric. "Oh yeah! You're that nice young CSI, who looked at some evidence in a case for me a little while back. How are you doing son?"

"I'm good sir. How about you?"

"I'm good. Are you two working?"

"No dad we're not. We're having dinner together," Calleigh said.

Duke suddenly realized what his daughter meant. They were on a date. "Oh! I'm sorry! You should have just told me you were on a date… I'll leave you two alone." Duke started walking toward the exit, but stopped. He said, "Good choice Calleigh." He winked at Eric then left.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about that Eric," Calleigh said as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "I had no idea he was going to be here."

"Calleigh, it's okay," Eric said laughing. This was one of only a few times he's seen her truly embarrassed. "That's how your dad is. I don't mind it at all. Your dad is pretty cool."

"Thanks… so anyway new subject."

Talking about what each person liked or disliked would be like watching paint dry. They knew everything about one another; they were close friends, and have worked together a long time. The two needed something interesting to talk about. "Okay… how about Ryan's story he told today about the mysterious fog," he suggested.

"We should name it Miami Fog," she laughed just as their server brought out their food. "Mmm, this looks so good. I haven't had a decent burger in weeks."

"Who had the number two combo with cheese, lettuce, onions, and bacon?" asked Jeanie Roberts, their server.

"I did," said Eric.

"And this must be yours… a number two with cheese, tomato, bacon, lettuce, and mayo."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you very much."

"Do you two need anything else?" They both said no. "Enjoy. If you need anything my name is Jeanie."

Eric and Calleigh didn't waste any time digging into their food; they were so hungry. For the next couple minutes neither of them said anything, they just ate. The hot Miami heat had taken a lot out of them.

"How is it?" Eric asked with a mouth full of food.

Calleigh began laughing hysterically. The look on Eric's face was beyond cute. He had cheese running down the side of his cheek. She took a clean finger and wiped the cheese off his face then ate it. "Delko flavored cheese… couldn't be any better." Eric smiled his Delko smile. He got up and moved to Calleigh's side to the booth. He couldn't hold back anymore. He cupped both of her cheeks and kissed her lip a few times before grabbing his basket of food. Calleigh returned the favor by giving his a soft kiss on his scruffy face.

Out in the distance the glowing fog had moved a little closer.


	12. The Mysterious Objects

With their bellies full Speed, Lauren, Tyler, Horatio, Margaret, Ryan, and Virginia moved into the living room, where it was more comfortable. "Man, I'm so glad to be home. Today has been so weird, so long, and so hot," Lauren said cuddling up on the sofa with Speed and Tyler.

"You feeling any better sweetheart?" Horatio asked his daughter.

Lauren looked at Tyler, and gave him a kiss on the top of his head then looked her father and smiled. "Yeah, I just think the hot weather was getting to me. I'm sure a good night's rest is all I'll need." Lauren didn't want to say anything about a possible pregnancy. She wanted to talk to Speed first. "A shower would be nice too," she added.

"Well, then why don't you go take a shower, babe," Speed said taking Tyler from Lauren's lap.

Ryan laughed. "That sounds so weird."

"Ryan, it's a pretty normal thing for a husband or wife to call each other babe," Margaret piped in.

"I know that know that. It's just I rarely here Speed and Lauren say it to one another. You guys are so professional at work."

Lauren stood up and smiled. "Well get used to it, Mr. Wolfe… if you plan on sticking around a while." She motioned for Speed to hand her Tyler, he did. Lauren smiled at her son, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Tyler smiled back; it made her heart melt. He looked just like Speed when he smiled, although his mother thought otherwise. "Hey dad, can you watch Tyler. I think I'm going to go take a shower." Ryan just smiled.

"Sure sweetheart, but Speed is here," Horatio said taking his grandson from his daughter.  
Lauren looked back and Speed then back at her father. "He's coming with me." Both Margaret and Virginia noticed a titanic size grin appear on his handsome face.

"Lauren, I love you like a sister, but way too much information," Margaret said laughing.

Horatio smiled back. "Take your time, sweetheart."

"Thank you." Lauren kneeled down to Tyler's level and said, "Now be good for Papa, okay." Tyler nodded his head. "Can I have a hug before I go take a shower?" Tyler held out his little arms, and Lauren pulled him in a tight hug. "Mommy loves you so much." She gave him a kiss on the cheek again.

"'Ove you mommy," Tyler mumbled back. Lauren gave her son one last kiss before taking a hold of Speed's hand and guiding him to their room at her father's place. Tyler turned his body around so he was facing his grandfather and said, "'Ove you Papa."

"I love you too, Tyler," Horatio said as his grandson snuggled up to his chest and soon fell asleep.

"Aww, the little guy is tired. Long day for him?" Virginia asked rubbing Tyler's back.

"Actually, I'm surprised Tyler's sleepy at all. He's been sleeping all day pretty much," Margaret said.

"Well, didn't Lauren and Speed say Tyler's been sick for a while now? I'm sure he's going to sleep until he feels okay," Ryan chimed in.

Margaret was about to respond, but everyone's attention was focused on the room Lauren and Speed had gone into. "Oh my god, Tim! That was cold as hell! Are you insane?" Lauren shouted. Everyone in the living room started to laugh as soon as they heard Speed laughing. He had turned the faucet all the way to cold.

"He is so dead later on," Margaret said laughing hysterically.

* * *

In the bathroom, Speed couldn't stop laughing as they finished their shower. The look on Lauren's face and her reaction was priceless. "Babe, I'm sorry. I had to do it," Speed said chuckling.

Lauren gave him the evil eye and said, "You are so dead, Mr. Speedle. So dead."

Speed shut off the shower head, and wrapped his arms around Lauren's chest, and kissed the nape of her neck. He didn't expect to get that big of reaction from her. "Babe, I'm sorry… I really am. I didn't think it was going to be that cold."  
"Tim, it was all the way on cold… plus it's not good to scare a pregnant woman so early in her pregnancy," Lauren said not thinking.

Speed stopped laughing. "What did you say?"

"I-I…" Lauren stuttered. She sighed. "I think I'm pregnant, Tim." He didn't say anything; he was in shock. "Earlier, in the locker room… before we left work… that's when I kind of figured that I might be pregnant. I was going to tell you after our shower… don't be mad."

Speed smiled. "Lauren, honey, I'm not mad at you. Why would I be mad at you? Hearing this just made this day one of the best days of my life." He planted a kiss on her lips again and again and again. "We're going to have another baby."

Lauren smiled. "Maybe, I don't know for sure if I am or not."

"Well, if you're not sure then let's go make sure." He gently cupped her face and kissed her soundly on the lips. Speed couldn't keep his hands off of her. He moved one hand down to the small of her back, and pressed her body to his; she moaned into his passionate kisses.

"If you say so, Mr. Speedle," Lauren said seductively. He carefully picked her up, and took her to their bed, where he laid her down on the freshly washed sheets.

*11:30p.m.*

Cynthia Wells, the questions and documents tech walked into the lab after having a quick snack in the break room. The night had been a slow one. It wasn't anything like her former day shift team had had. She missed them, but she loved her job, and Cynthia did what she had to do to keep it.

Spying some untidy papers laying on the far end of the desk, she decided to pick them up and put them in their rightful places. As she walked to the other end of the table she stepped over a loose tile on the floor. Thinking that she was just hearing things she stepped back, and again she heard and felt the loose tile.

She looked down and indeed the tile was loose. She quickly grabbed some latex gloves and slipped them on. Cynthia bent down and carefully removed the tile, and to her surprise there were a couple things hidden under it. One was an old book of some kind, and the other item was a small gold cross.

"What is all of this?" she asked aloud.

Cynthia removed the objects, and carefully set them on the examining table. She opened the book and to her surprise it wasn't a book, it was a journal, an old one at that. The date on the first page read, October 1796.


	13. A Call In The Night

***12:00a.m.***

Horatio sat up in his bed when he heard the sound of his grandson's cry. He figured Lauren or Speed would go get him so he laid back down. Virginia was sound asleep to his left. He looked out his bedroom window. What he saw puzzled him. It was glowing fog. At first he thought it was the red tide, a phenomenon known as a harmful algal bloom – this occurs when algae known as phytoplankton accumulate rapidly in the water column, or blooms at the surface – but it usually was red and occurred on the west side of Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico. This fog was bright green and rising up out of the water.

Horatio pushed it away from his mind and tried to go back asleep, but five minutes later he heard the cries of his grandson again. "Why haven't they gotten him yet?" Horatio asked himself. Pulling the sheets back he got up quietly and headed to Tyler's room.

Tyler's bedroom door was slightly open when he reached it. Horatio pushed it open to find him standing up in his crib. His eyes were red and teary. "Hi Tyler. What's wrong?" Horatio said softly as he picked Tyler up.

"Mommy. Daddy," he cried.

"Let's go get them, okay." Tyler wrapped his little arms around Horatio's neck and rested his head on his shoulder.

On his way to Lauren and Speed's room he heard his cell phone ring. He sighed and said to Tyler, "Hold on Tyler, okay." Horatio heard his grandson mumble, 'okay.' Finding his cell phone on his bedside table he answered it. "Horatio."

"Hi, Lt. Caine. This is Cynthia Wells. Um, I think you should come in and see this."

"Miss Wells, what is it?" Horatio asked intrigued.

"I don't know. I found it under one of the broken tiles in the lab. There's an old diary in there, and I think this might be related to that case you've been working on. The one with the mysterious smoke and letters."

"Um, okay. Can you send me some photos to my phone, please?"

"Yeah, sure thing, Lt. Caine, but I think you should get here as soon as you can. This is kind of creepy."

Horatio finished up his conversation with Cynthia, and woke up Virginia. By the look she gave him she wasn't happy. "You better have a good reason for waking me up," Virginia said sitting up. It was then she noticed Tyler in Horatio's arms. "Is everything okay with Lauren and Speed?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine. Tyler was crying and neither of them heard him, but I just got a call from work and I have to go in. One of the lab techs found something. It might be related to the case today."

Before Virginia could answer him Lauren walked into the room. "What's goin' on in here? You three having a party without me?" Lauren said with a small smile.

Horatio looked at his daughter and smiled back. "No. Someone was crying, and I went to go get him," he said rubbing Tyler's back. He seemed to be fast asleep. "Then I got a call from the lab."

Lauren raised her eyebrow. "Oh really? What for?"

Upon hearing his mother's voice, Tyler lifted up his head and said, "Mommy?"

Tyler reached out, with his little arms, to Lauren. Lauren gladly took him. "Hi baby. You okay?"

"Yeah," he mumbled and rested his head on her shoulders.

"So, what did work want?" Lauren asked.

Before Horatio could answer he got the messages from Cynthia. He opened the files and began to study them. "Uh, Miss Wells said she might have something on our case."

"The Q/D lab tech? But I thought she was moved to night shift?" Lauren asked.

Still studying the images on his phone, Horatio said, "Yes, but she was working and apparently one of the tiles in the lab was loose. Miss Wells decided to lift it up, and when she did there were a couple of items hidden underneath."

"What were they?" Virginia piped in.

"Well, by the looks of it it's a book of some kind and a small gold cross," Horatio said first showing Virginia and then Lauren.

"Maybe it's an old bible. It would explain the cross with it," Virginia said taking a guess.

Lauren studied the image further. "No. I don't think it's a bible. There are no markings or writing that indicates it's one. As for the cross it could mean anything. People carry them around all the time for protection. I have a small silver one I carry with me… it almost looks like I diary."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Horatio said exiting out of the photos. He set his phone back on the bedside table. "I'm going to have to go in."

"Dad, can't it wait until later on when we go back in?" Lauren said starting to feel a little light headed. She quietly sat down on the bed; no one took notice of her dizziness. She was thankful.

"Do you think it might case breaking?" Virginia asked.

"I'm not sure, but I feel like I need to go take a look at it," Horatio said heading into his closet to get changed.

When Horatio came out fully dressed, Lauren was gone and Tyler was snuggled up to Virginia. "Where'd Lauren go?" Horatio asked slipping on his suit jacket.

"She went to go wake up Speed. I'm surprised he hasn't woken up yet," Virginia said rubbing Tyler's back.

Horatio chuckled. "Speed… well let's just say it took Lauren about ten minutes to wake him up when she went into labor with Tyler. I think she had to dump water on him to wake him up.

"Seriously?" Virginia laughed. "I didn't hear about that story. I never knew Speed was a hard sleeper.

"Well, now you do." Horatio gave Virginia a little kiss on the cheek. "I got to go. I'll see you in a little while, and I better go tell the kids they don't need to come. At least not yet."

Horatio took one more look out his bedroom window. The fog looked like it had moved closer. The feeling in the Lieutenant's stomach wasn't good. Why he did not know.


End file.
